Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has piled up individual accolades in leading the Thunder to the NBA finals, but the Canadian guard says a title triumph against the Indiana Pacers is the prize that matters.

“I don’t play for the individual stuff, I don’t play for anything else besides winning — I never have in my whole life,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on Thursday, June 5 (Philippine time), a day before the Thunder host the Pacers in Game 1 of the best-of-seven championship series.

From youth basketball in Canada through university basketball in the United States, Gilgeous-Alexander said, his focus has been on winning titles.

“Now I’m 26, I want to win the NBA championship,” he said. “It’s always about winning for me.”

With that goal in his sights, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered a spectacular season that saw him supplant Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic as the NBA Most Valuable Player.

“SGA” averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, five rebounds, 1.7 steals, and a blocked shot per game in leading the Thunder to an NBA-best 68 regular-season wins.

He became the first player to lead the league in games with at least 20 points (75), 30 points (49), 40 points (13), and 50 points (four) in a season since James Harden in 2018-19.

Named MVP of the Western Conference finals after the Thunder dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games, Gilgeous-Alexander could become the first league scoring champion since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win the NBA title in the same season.

Gilgeous-Alexander said it had been “a long week to wait” since polishing off Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves — which followed a seven-game victory over Jokic and the Nuggets in the conference semifinals. (Agence France-Presse)